5G versus Wi-Fi 6

Everyone
has heard about 5G, but is all this fuzz more then just a hype? And what about
the much lesser known WI-FI 6? One thing
we know for sure is that these new wireless standards are expected to
revolutionize IoT, with low power requirements, blazing speeds, and high
bandwidth. And that is important because experts predict nearly 31 billion IoT
devices around the world by 2020.

5G could be
a great solution for delivering high speed internet in more remote or rural
areas or in older buildings where no fixed high-speed internet is available.

Also 5G
will definitely open up loads of possibility for future applications especially
with the Internet of things (IoT), but in the beginning that is not something
you as a consumer will benefit from yet. 5G will mostly solve latency and
capacity problems that are challenging new IoT applications. Just think about
it, do you really need those high gig-speeds on your phone? When was the last
time you have reached the limits of your 4G/LTE connection? I’m not talking
about bad reception here, 5G won’t solve that, I’m talking about the up- and
download speed.

The much
more unknown WI-FI 6 has a lot more potential to have a direct impact on the
life of consumers. You probably experienced it before, you are connected with a
bunch of (maye even old) devices to your router and your internet speed gets frustratingly
more slower. WI-FI 6 could offer a solution to this.

Where WI-FI
5 only sends one packet to one device, keeping the path occupied. With WI-FI 6
it is possible to send more information to different devices at the same time,
only off-loading the right information at the right destination. This is called
MU-MIMO (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output)

Another
great development is that connected devices don’t keep an open connection at
all times, because the connection is not permanent. This means that even if you
connect older devices to WI-FI 6 that won’t influence the performance of your
router.

To make big
open networks, like hotspots, the more safe WI-FI 6 adds a new WPA 3-security
standard. Providing encryption that is similar to the ones on a mobile network,
making hotspots individually secured and a lot safer.

Finally the
names of Wi-Fi will become more relatable and easier to understand as well

802.11n =
Wi-Fi 4

802.11.ac=
Wi-Fi 5

802.11ax =
WI-FI 6

The pros of
5G and WI-FI 6 are more or less the same , there is a higher throughput, a
lower latency and the capacity gets higher. The difference is in the back-end
en the radio waves. 5G is designed to be a part of a bigger mobile network,
while WI-FI 6 is more suitable to be used on a smaller scale.

In terms of
costs WI-FI 6 is much cheaper, buy a new router and you are launched! 5G will
take a little longer and needs big investments from large companies on
infrastructure. This is also one of the big reasons 5G is such a hype,
providers need the back up of consumers to be able to roll out this new
technology.

Is one
better then the other? No, 5G and WI-FI 6 both have their own place and use
where they would excel. What we will most likely see in the future is that the
difference between mobile networks and WI-FI will get smaller and the two
standards will work together, getting even better connectivity.